Stanford: not on the regular walking tour–too far, there’s a reason kids have bikes there.
Berkeley: separate dorm tour available; didn’t take that tour, but he later did an overnight
CMU: attended separate dorm tour/housing info session
Harvey Mudd: yes, tour guide showed us his own room; it was not a plus in our overall impression, but son still applied.
Caltech: We visited on a day when there were no official tours, but a friend attending the college took us around all the Houses, which were a plus for my son (not so much for me, though I can see my younger self liking it).
He spent 6 weeks at CU Boulder and really liked those dorms and the food.
D18 is probably my most “quirky” kid so she what she looks for in a campus may be different from most. She very much liked the more modern campus at Skidmore.
She has the “burden” of coming after girl/girl twins so I feel like she’s invested in being her own person without feeling like she is following in anyone’s footsteps. One of her sisters had that “This is my school feeling” as soon as she walked on to a campus. She ended up applying ED to there getting in and is thrilled where she is. Even though the other twin’s experience was different, DD18 kept waiting for the former. It was a little frustrating.
Also, Hamilton would be a reach for her too. I just forgot to state that.
I completely agree with spacing out tours, but with busy kids that gets difficult.
I liked how at Skidmore they showed a triple and said upfront that this is what freshman get (and described how it gets better each year). I want the kids to have accurate expectations.
Oh—forgot Alabama, where we saw the honors dorms (on the regular tour, not one specifically set aside for honors candidates!), which are their high-end suites. To see the traditional dorms, you have to go find the building yourself after the bus tour is over, and then ask at the front desk to be taken up to the room they have set aside for visits. It was certainly a strange setup, to say the least.
ETA: The strangeness of that, BTW, was one of the things that put my D17 off on the idea of attending there.
I agree. One of my older girls (different school) was in a forced triple freshman year and it was terribly crowded. You couldn’t even turn around in there. They ended up getting moved to a lounge room that was very large so it worked out. They’ve opened new dorms in the last year so there isn’t that problem anymore. Seeing the triple at Skidmore was reassuring so D18 wasn’t phased at all.
Other twin was in a gorgeous, large room with one other person. Wood floors, high ceilings, huge windows. D18 remembers that room on her tours too.
My D goes to a school that’s dorms have been ranked #1 on lists. I told her that she and her last year’s roommates clearly were not asked their opinions. Their room was a forced triple, beds all in middle of walls so they couldn’t sit up in bed, 2 desks were in middle of room so there was no walking space, 2 small closets. But the worst part was on move-in day, we opened the windows and a million bugs flew in. Room overlookeda courtyard and a tree that had bugs. The frame on outside of window was broken so bugs came in all year. They couldn’t even open the shutters to get natural light in the room. My D put in multiple requests with maintenance and my H even called the Dean but nothing was done about it.
When we toured the school, we were shown a huge triple so we were very disappointed with what she ended up with. Still, they made the best of it and honestly, I think it bothered the moms more than the girls.
@WWC4me D is at Skidmore. It is true that it gets better each year. She had the forced triple and asked for a room change 2nd semester and was given a single. Junior year she has an apartment and is looking forward to an even nicer apartment next year. A positive for the dorms, tripled or otherwise, is the “pod” arrangement of three rooms (triple, double, and single) who share a large hall closet and a bathroom with separate shower and toilet area with multiple sinks. Obv it is supposed to be for a total of 5 but with the triples, it is 6. It allows for much more privacy back and forth to the bathroom than traditional hallway dorm rooms and it is quieter as well. And lets not forget about the 10’ window seat in each room, gorgeous.
Replying to NEPatsGirl
I’m so glad your DD is happy. My college juniors never had Skidmore on their radar and I think they also would have liked it. They have a HS classmate who is also a junior there and he is very active in the EC that DD18 is involved in. They are going to try and hook her up with him when we go back up for a 2nd visit and interview. Hopefully, she’ll like it just as much the second time around.
My S is at Bowdoin. Freshman get a mix of double, triple, and quads (and a handful of quints). But every Freshman dorm room (even doubles) includes an entirely separate “common” living room. He was in a quad where he had 1 roommate in his room, 2 others shared a different bedroom and they all shared a large living room. There were only 4 suites per floor (2 each per gender) that all shared men’s and women’s bathrooms and numerous 4 shower rooms. (By comparison when I was in a dorm at UCLA each wing shared bathrooms and showers and that could be 100 people or more.) By sophomore year he’s already in an apartment with 2 other roommates (both were Freshman roommates as well, if that says anything about the success of their matching). It’s 2 bedrooms plus a living room, bathroom, kitchen and small dining room, and 4 closets. No washer/dryer though (shared in the basement). The only thing Bowdoin is struggling with is there are a lot of nice private houses that are rented to students bordering the campus and the school is finding those so popular with students that they are planning a quota system to limit how many people can live off-campus. It would be easy for Seniors but luck of the draw for Juniors and pretty much impossible for Frosh and Sophs. Of course students expect that their finance aid extends to covering off-campus housing which personally I don’t know why schools should have to do that if they are willing to offer perfectly good on-campus housing that doesn’t require paying third parties.
Those housing options sound lovely. One of my college juniors related that a group of her friends lived off campus last year (DD was abroad for spring semester.) They hated being responsible for snow shoveling, garbage/recycling pick up, yard care, calling landlord for maintenance issues etc. The school guarantees housing for all four years and all of them are back on campus this year!
@citivas, at our DDs HS Colgate is also easier to get into than Hamilton - not certain why. They both got into both schools and they both chose Hamilton and are really enjoying it.
Hobart & William Smith - Room
Hamilton - Room Suite
Vassar - Dorm but no room, said it was because of Winter break.
Skidmore - None - They said because Freshman move in day, I felt like they were hiding what we heard about triples.
Saint Michael’s - Room ( Most friendly campus we visited )
Middlebury - Room
Smith - Room
Wellelsley - Room
Mount Holyoke - Room
Emerson - Suite overlooking Boston Common ( Nicest we saw by a wide margin )
Colby - Room
Bowdoin - Room
Bates - Dorm but no room
The schools that didn’t show a room bothered me, my daughter didn’t seem to mind. I lived in a triple myself freshman year but both my room mates left every weekend, and college was only 10K, but if I were paying full price, and took a plane or drove far, I would like to see a dorm room. No need to go in it, just open the door and take a peak is all I ask for. When they didn’t show us a room at Bates, I told my daughter they should put a piece of plexiglass like the museums do, she thought I was a dink. Just came up with a better idea, a door with glass window, and a shade (or shutters) they can pull down when they get into the room.
Regarding any college that year in and year out puts freshmen in triples (and forces freshmen to live on campus): maybe the college is admitting too many students? I know they have to tinker with yield every year, but why not err on the conservative side and then pull some grateful kids off the wait list? And we have been discussing not underfunded publics who can barely squeeze some sophomores on campus, but pricey very selective LACs. Who wants to pay 50K, 60K, and your kid is sharing a lounge with 2 others. And where are the closets?
On the other end, D17’s favorite two colleges were Reed and Haverford. Both have a plethora of private rooms. D got one at Reed as a freshmen.
Not sure about other schools but Skidmore reimbursed a portion of the housing cost for anyone tripled. They also offered money for anyone willing to study abroad in the fall rather than the spring to open up some rooms.
For many colleges where I’ve seen a difference in pricing between doubles and triples, the difference seemed fairly minuscule. It wasn’t like they were discounting by a third. Net, the schools are making $$ squeezing students in.